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Monthly Archives: January 2014

Carmen Caputo's Power Shack Gym really is one of the best garage gyms out there. This is the second Atomic Athletic Bomb Proof Bulletin based on his place. It is a true unattached pole barn type 2-car + size garage, that is exclusively a gym. Carmen and his buddies completely finished it off, with heat. I can really appreciate that right now, as it's -5 F as I write this.

The photo shows The Power Shack accessory corner, highlighted by the peg board. Hanging on the bottom are real antique Whitely spring type strand pulling units, with all the original Whitely accessory parts. He has them set up with 1-5 springs, just like a pro-style dumbbell or kettlebell rack. You also see an original cloth webbing York head harness and York wrist roller, together with some home made loading pins.

Carmen and I had a great talk about the wrist rollers. We are both really into the wrist roller movement and concept. Carmen actually has two of those originals, but he stripped the paint off the one shown in the picture and poly coated it. I also have an original red painted one that I will show in a wrist roller article that is coming down the pike. Carmen's wrist roller advice is to, “...put a longer rope on your wrist roller, when it comes time to replace it. If you have a longer rope, you will find a way to use it. It's the basic simple details that the old strength guys were into, and that made all the difference. The longer rope is murder on your hands. Once you unroll it, you have to roll it back up before you can put it away.”

In the floor rack you can see a variety of bars. He has an original Gaspari Bar, a 6 foot standard barbell, a 6 foot Olympic bar, a regular Olympic curl bar, an Olympic Super Curl Bar and an Olympic Hammer Curl Bar. He also has quite a pile of standard size plates.

Rounding out the collection is a Power Twister, an Iron Man Super Gripper and a variety of rubber rings. The left wall also shows his framed original York Powerlifting Chart #2 (Bench Press). The other wall has his lat machine attachments (like the triceps rope), with the lat machine in the foreground. That padding is not the original naugahyde, but that cool late-60s glitter black that you may have seen on boat or motorcycle seats. He has re-upholstered everything in to match.

Check out what Carmen Caputo has put together! Seriously, put on your 7 year old kid attitude, with big excited eyes. We are going to take a walk back in time, to the days when afternoons were long and sunny. This is one of those days when opening this plain garage door seems somewhat slightly more interesting than kicking stones in an alley, then suddenly your whole life is changed.

Carmen's gym really exists and he has been an Atomic Athlete since before I was born. He has been seriously weightlifting and collecting equipment since 1960, with most of it originally coming from Peary Rader and York Barbell. For the past several years, he has been adding in some Atomic Athletic pieces, supplemented by collectibles that have come from me, eBay and other random sources.

The photo shows his “Kettlebell Rack”. Where he has put together classic kettlebells built with kettlebell handles and all York standard size plates, bars and collars. He has pairs of them in 10 pound increments from 20 – 60 pounds*, which he occasionally modifies for mid-range increments. You can also see his collection of Iron Boots. Not all of his pieces were acquired new, but you can see how everything is now in pristine shape and order, ready for the next workout. Carmen follows the rule he was taught in the Marines, “If you take care of your gear, it will take care of you.”

Now, take a gander at the gym art. Those instructional wall charts are originals. He has framed classic posters and other art all over the gym. I have a bunch of great shots that I will be showing in the next few weeks. Keep an eye out for it. Everything is solid, basic and high quality.

To quote Carmen, “Only in America could the grandchild of immigrants be able to acquire something like this. We are truly blessed.” You may not remember when you were first introduced to weights, but it would be great if we could all be so fortunate as to find a place like this to start from.

I know that a lot of our readers are big fans of Iron Boot training. Many of you even have antique Iron Boots. In fact, the next few bulletins are going to be highlighting antique equipment that is regularly in use.

If you are familiar with the straps that used to come with the various antique Iron Boots, then you know they were virtually worthless. In fact, it is my opinion that Iron Boots declined in popularity because the various manufacturers had those terrible straps. Put on some decent straps and your Iron Boots become really outstanding training tools. Iron Boots really are dumbbells for your feet!

Right now is a great time, if you are looking to upgrade your Iron Boot Straps. Today, we are introducing our NEW Atomic Athletic Intermediate Strength Iron Boot Straps!

For a Limited Time, we are giving BOTH Free Shipping and a discount on the NEW Intermediate Iron Boot Straps. Additionally, because of the increase in popularity of our Iron Boots, we are also able to lower the price of our Heavy Duty Iron Boots straps! I don’t know how long we can do that as well, but we are going to try it.

Yep. I soaked my fleece hat in sweat. I was shoveling. It was disgusting, but

Atomic Athletic Fleece Hat

kept my head warm anyway.

Here's my rant. The county finally lifted the Level 3 Snow Emergency, so we can drive without getting a ticket. Sure, it was record snow, 22 inches, and record cold. I don't care. Forty five minutes north of us, in Michigan, it's not a problem.

The Good Side: Hey, I got in some great lifting in the home gym and moved tons of snow for the cardio. As I read the news, it looks like I am far from the only one to be in this situation. CNN reported that Atlanta had a temperature of 26 degrees, while Anchorage, AK was at 34. Crazy. Here, we were down to -14, so today's 18 degrees felt like a heat wave. I heard the wind chill got down to less than -40. Nasty. This morning, our packing tape was shattering in the warehouse. You read it here first. Packing tape shatters if it gets too cold. So we brought all the tape in, turned on electric heaters and got a few things taken care of. Tomorrow will be a better day.

Keeping it basic. I did a lot of snow blower work this morning and shoveling out the car. I had the good old reliable pick-up truck done yesterday morning. Good old GM knows how to make a truck that starts right up in the cold... knock on wood.

Wood County, OH is under a Level 3 Snow Emergency Travel Restriction, allowing ONLY emergency personnel to travel.

This means that Atomic Athletic Offices are closed today, January 6, 2013. This means that the showroom, warehouse, shipping and phones will NOT be open.

Home Gym Day

Today is the perfect example of why you want a home gym. Growing up in Michigan, there was no such thing as a day with restricted travel, not so in Ohio. That means without special credentials, I will get a ticket if I drive my vehicle today. Therefore, I will be visiting the home gym for today's workout!

As I will be doing a lot of snow shoveling, heavy squats and deadlifts are out. However, it is a perfect time for bodyweight squats, stretching and accessory work.

Some people look for reasons not to go into the gym. They find reasons to call an exercise dangerous. When I first got into the fitness industry, it was Olympic weightlifting, followed by Behind the Neck Presses. Now the pendulum has swung the other way. For several years it has been leg extensions getting a bad rap. Oh well. I still do them.

Let's face it, I love leg work. It's simple and basic. One exercise that I feel is very important, if you want strong, powerful legs, is the humble leg extension. If you can find a machine that fits you, machines can be fine. I have one that I love, but most of them don't fit me. What does fit are my Iron Boots. There are a million exercises that I can do with Iron Boots. They really are dumbbells for the feet. Unfortunately, to get some exercises right, you actually need some extra equipment, like a bench or seat of some sort.

pair up with Iron Boots. Amazingly, it was sitting right in front of me for about fifteen years, since I worked at York. They even used me as a "short, but real lifter" model for that piece, when it was originally being designed. The current version has a few more positions than it used to have. The one you need for BOTH Iron Boot Leg Extensions and Iron Boot Leg Curls is that butt pad adjustment. That pad also has a wide, rolled edge. That is very important for both exercises.

Check out these Leg Extension and Leg Curl photos. You don't need tons of weight, but getting the right angles and support IS KEY. That York Barbell Flex Bench paired up with Iron Boots is an economical, efficient tool for your garage gym. Like or hate Leg Extensions they work. This pairing will remove two more excuses.